New project. We will be heading out this summer for Teddy Roosevelt, Tetons, and Yellowstone National Parks and my "plan" (subject to change with out notice) is to head out in early June and while we have the Espar diesel heater, it and its fuel tank take up precious room. We have a 6 gal water heater and I was thinking of using an old heater core I had (or thought I did) in the garage and setting it up with computer case fan and 12V solar hot water pump to provide some heat, we do not need much. I have watched a number of episodes of "Hoarders" to inspire me to clean and the old heater core was one of the victims. I am however not sure that is a bad thing because it was soldered and old enough to have been with lead solder and it was a lot less than clean, and likely contaminated with antifreeze. I purchased a new aluminum heater core and am getting ready to order the pump and make a housing. I will write it up as I go along.

Shadow Carcher,I had been in many posts last year on this topic. I believe in it. I think it would work. But I was not going to use this water for potable water. Too nervious about the water being contaminated. I was going to go with the Attwood "exchanger" unit to keep the waters seperated. Good luck but please be cautious.

Hey Shadow Catcher. I have plans for trying this out to. I have the pump and a "never seen oil or anything but straight potable water" transmission cooler plus a couple of computer fans. I have been slacking off for the past few months. There are a couple more unfinished things that I still need to get done before I do the final assembly and test. My plan is to circulate the hot water from the suburban water heater through the core and use the fans to blow cabin air through the core. I'll probably use a digital temperature controller or maybe pickup an old style, non electronic, RV thermostat.

I understand now. All aluminum so welding is same. Please keep us posted with your results. I just refreshed my memory and studied up on Atwood water heaters again and for me, the best deal is the 6 gal, gas only with pilot. $303.

I like the pilot light versions as years ago we found we can get all the hpt water we normally use by leaving the heater on pilot only (not turning the selector valve to the "burn" position. Once the water is hot I return the selector to pilot only. Possibly the extra foam insulation I use around the tank helps, but pilot only gives enough hot water for even one shower. Short navy type.

Have you thought about running some tubing under your mattress and circulating the water through there? Based on some estimates I made last night, roughly 1800 btu ( less 350 per person) should be adequate to maintain a 30 degree difference in temp from outside. It would be slow to warm up, but it should be nice even heat, vs a heat zone near the heater and still cold near the wallsTom

In my case I doubt that heating pipes/tubing under the mattress would be very effective. Then ten / eleven inch thick pillow top queen size mattress is too thick, IMO. And it might be too warm for me to sleep on if there was sufficient heat to warm the air. Maybe a better idea for a TD with a thinner mattress. I do agree that radiant heat like that in a home floor provides nice even heat. However, that sort of heat is best suited to a system that is on long term. At least that is my experience with radiant floor heat in homes. Very nice to walk and live on a radiant heat floor.

MtnDon wrote:In my case I doubt that heating pipes/tubing under the mattress would be very effective. Then ten / eleven inch thick pillow top queen size mattress is too thick, IMO. And it might be too warm for me to sleep on if there was sufficient heat to warm the air. Maybe a better idea for a TD with a thinner mattress. I do agree that radiant heat like that in a home floor provides nice even heat. However, that sort of heat is best suited to a system that is on long term. At least that is my experience with radiant floor heat in homes. Very nice to walk and live on a radiant heat floor.